SB 10.5.25 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.5.25

नैकत्र प्रियसंवास: सुहृदां चित्रकर्मणाम् । ओघेन व्यूह्यमानानां प्लवानां स्रोतसो यथा ॥ २५ ॥

naikatra priya-saṁvāsaḥ

[naikatra priya-samvaasah]

suhṛdāṁ citra-karmaṇām

[suhridaam chitra-karmanaam]

oghena vyūhyamānānāṁ

[oghena vyoohyamaanaanaam]

plavānāṁ srotaso yathā

[plavaanaam srotaso yathaa]

Word-for-word

na — not ekatra — in one place priya - saṁvāsaḥ — living together with dear friends and relatives suhṛdām — of friends citra - karmaṇām — of all of us who have had varieties of reactions to our past karma oghena — by the force vyūhyamānānām — carried away plavānām — of sticks and other objects floating in the water srotasaḥ — of the waves yathā — as .

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

naikatra priya-saṁvāsaḥ

not

ekatra

in one place

priya - saṁvāsaḥ

living together with dear friends and relatives

suhṛdāṁ citra-karmaṇām

suhṛdām

of friends

citra - karmaṇām

of all of us who have had varieties of reactions to our past karma

oghena vyūhyamānānāṁ

oghena

by the force

vyūhyamānānām

carried away

plavānāṁ srotaso yathā

plavānām

of sticks and other objects floating in the water

srotasaḥ

of the waves

yathā

as .

Important Words

ekatra — in one place
Eka + tra (locative suffix). The verse names the basic feature of saṁsāra: nobody stays ekatra for long. The same insight underlies the entire vairāgya teaching of the Gītā — material relationships are temporary by structure, not by accident.
priya-saṁvāsaḥ — living together with dear ones
Priya + saṁvāsa (sam + √vas, 'to dwell together'). The phrase names what every soul wants and what saṁsāra structurally denies. Only with Kṛṣṇa in His dhāma is priya-saṁvāsa eternal — Vraja is the answer to this verse's complaint.
citra-karmaṇām — of those with varied karmas
Citra ('variegated') + karma. The plural genitive marks all of us — souls with many-colored karmic histories. Our karmic patterns do not align, so our trajectories diverge. Gauḍīya: only sat-saṅga and bhakti can produce alignment that karma cannot.
oghena — by the flood
Ogha ('flood, current'). Instrumental — 'by the force of the flood.' The flood of karma is the agent that scatters the planks. Karma is not a record-keeper here but a hydraulic force.
plavānām-srotasaḥ — of floating planks in the current
Plava ('that which floats') + srotas ('current, stream'). The image is precise: planks (jīvas) in a current (saṁsāra), bumping briefly together and then parted. The Bhāgavatam's vairāgya-poetry at its concise best.

Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time.

Purport

Vasudeva was lamenting because he and Nanda Mahārāja could not live together. Yet how could they live together? Vasudeva warns that all of us, even if intimately related, are carried away by the waves of time according to the results of past karma.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river's waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time.

Commentary

Anticipating the proposal, "If that is so, then now we can stay together," he speaks this verse. "Dear friend, just as twigs and grass cannot stay together in the flow of the river, we also cannot stay together."

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya

Commentary

Friends cannot always live together happily because of various karmas. Waves variously take away (vyūhyamānānām) things floating in the water. The root is vah: to bring.

Related values & verses

Related values

Svadhyaya (Self-study & Scripture Study)Tejas (Inner Radiance / Vigour)Discriminative WisdomTapas (Austerity / Discipline)

Concepts

ChitJiva

Related lectures

Revati Raman Pr SB 10-05-25 - 2009-04-19 ISKCON Tirupati
His Grace Revati Raman Prabhu· 2009-04-19· Telugu
Amal Bhakta Sw SB 10-05-25 - 2016-09-29 Los Angeles
His Holiness Amal Bhakta Swami· 2016-09-29· English
BPSPSw SB 10-05-25 Hindi - 2013-09-23 ISKCON Mira Road
His Holiness Bhakti Padma Saurabh Pracharak Swami· 2013-09-23· Hindi

Personal Guidance

Even our dearest bonds are planks tossed by the river of time and karma — hold them lightly, and anchor instead in Kṛṣṇa, who alone is unchanging.

Practical Applications

Name one relationship you secretly expect to last forever on your terms, and today offer it inwardly to Kṛṣṇa as His, not yours.
Call or sit with a family member today as if it were the last such meeting — speak only what serves their soul, not what props up the arrangement.
When you feel the ache of separation or change, refuse to numb it; let it remind you that only sevā to Kṛṣṇa survives the current of time.

Analogy

Watch the monsoon river carry away sticks and planks — each one floats fast, none asks the other to slow down, the current decides who is together and who is parted. Vasudeva names saṁsāra exactly: relationships are flotsam in karma's flood, and the meeting with a devotee is the rare moment when two sticks touch.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io